by Harley Schlanger
By producing a massive amount of column inches of "analysis", and hundreds of hours of video commentary by pundits working for the mainstream media cartel, about the September 10 debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the "experts" have successfully steered the discussion away from the proverbial elephant in the room. The performances by the two candidates, the sophistry of the media, and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the two campaigns, are shaping a narrative designed to hide the reality behind the election, which is that U.S. strategic and economic policy remains in the hands of corporate billionaires committed to defend their collapsing Unipolar Order, even if it means launching thermonuclear war.
Despite polls which show that two of the leading issues cited by the public are the weak economy and the wars funded by the U.S. taxpayer in Ukraine and southwest Asia, these subjects were marginalized in the debate. The exchanges throughout the ninety minutes demonstrated that neither candidate will challenge that control by an imperial oligarchy, leaving most Americans unaware of the dangerous march toward tragedy that the nation, and humanity, is facing.
UTILIZING THE "SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP"
As the debate was taking place, plans were activated in bilateral consultations between the Biden administration and the City of London's puppet Keir Starmer, to move one big step closer to crossing Russian President Putin's "red line", of approving use of long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike Russian territory. The "special relationship" is being strengthened by dubious changes in U.S.-British agreements on sharing nuclear weapons, and Secretary of State Blinken is engaged in non-stop meetings with his British counterpart.
There are some who point out that the coordination between U.S.-U.K. officials is provocative towards Russia and China, and threatens to provoke a nuclear war (Fn1). Why, they ask, is this not being discussed in the campaign to choose the next President?
The war danger was raised, briefly, by moderator David Muir, in a question to Trump, posed almost as a taunt. He asked, "Do you want Ukraine to win this war?"
Trump: "I want this war to stop. I want to save lives."
Muir, in a follow-up, asked if Trump believed "it's in the best interest for Ukraine to win this war?"
Trump: "I think it's the best interest to get this war finished and just get it done."
Harris used Trump's failure to elaborate as an excuse to poke him, unleashing her true, inner neo-con persona. After praising American and NATO support for Ukraine, she repeated her standard theme, that NATO must stand with Ukraine. "Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe. Starting with Poland," which you would quickly "give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”
She continued, with a discredited line from Chatham House's Russophobic playbook, but one repeated daily: "Putin’s agenda is not just about Ukraine. European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that [Trump] is no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is NATO.”
HARRIS DEFENDS BIDEN'S WARS
In answering a question as to whether she, as Vice President, bears any responsibility for the sloppy retreat from Afghanistan, and the U.S. and civilian deaths which occurred, she again blamed Trump. “Donald Trump, when he was president, negotiated one of the weakest deals you can imagine. He calls himself a deal-maker. Even his national security adviser said it was a weak, terrible deal.”
She then lied, saying that under the Biden-Harris administration, "there is not one member of the United States military who is on active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world — the first time this century.” She conveniently left out U.S. forces remaining in Iraq and Syria, as well as those on ships and bases in the eastern Mediterranean, deployed to protect Israel.
On Israel, Harris dispelled any illusions that she is serious about seeking a ceasefire in Gaza and promoting a two-state solution. We must continue to support Israel, she said, and its right to defend itself, giving Netanyahu what he requests. Neither she nor Trump said a word about the 40,000+ Palestinians killed, a number which includes more than 16,000 children. She further demonstrated her loyalty to Biden's war policy, saying that the real problem is Iran, finding herself in agreement with Trump. Their only disagreement on the Middle East is over who is a better "friend" of Israel, and who would be "tougher" on Iran.
WAR HAWKS IN CONTROL
With Harris identifying completely with the war policy of the Biden administration, some Trump supporters wondered why he did not make this an issue. The endorsement she received days before the debate from former VP and mass murderer Dick Cheney and his Trump-hating daughter Liz provided him an ideal opportunity to make the case that a vote for Harris would be a vote for more wars. His road to the White House in 2016 came as a result of his devastating attacks, often laced with biting humor, on the Bush-Cheney neocons, and then against Hillary Clinton, whom he attacked for her reckless willingness to risk a war with Russia over Syria. There has been post-debate disappointment expressed by some of Trump's MAGA faithful that he did not go after Harris in his 2016 mode
What those defending Trump as a man of peace overlooked is that though he commands the loyalty of the base of voters of the Republican Party (GOP), a large proportion of GOP Congressmen and officials are hard-core neocons, and Trump does not want to antagonize them. This became obvious when viewing how Trump folded in the spring of 2024 in the fight to stop Biden's $95 billion supplemental defense budget, which included $61 billion for the Ukraine war, and $25 billion for Israel. Working with newly-elected, pro-Trump Speaker Mike Johnson, the anti-war -- or more accurately, populist -- Republicans held up passage of the bill for six months.
However, following a degeneration of Ukraine's position in the war, the war hawks around Biden accused those bottling up the bill, who were Trump loyalists, of actually working with Putin. Combined with a lobbying offensive aimed at Speaker Johnson -- which included private briefings from the CIA and Defense Department, and threats that campaign funds from defense contractors would be withheld unless the bill passed -- Johnson caved in. After a meeting with Trump on April 14, Johnson notified Democrats in Congress that he would lift the blockage on the bill, with Trump's support, and it passed easily, with bipartisan support.
This episode provides another example of how fear of the financial and political power of the Military-Industrial-Financial Complex, which includes the "Israel" or "Zionist" Lobby as a crucial part, is the controlling force in U.S. politics. To avoid a nuclear war, which would lead to the destruction of the U.S., requires a revolt against this blackmail. There is a big irony which most people are missing, which sets them up for capitulating to the power of the media and the censorship state. Not long ago, in July, Democrats rebelled against having Biden as their candidate. Many of them, along with their media allies, attacked him as being "non compos mentis" -- mentally incapable -- of serving as president. Yet, once he gave up and withdrew from the race, the same people who attacked him rallied to support his policies, with Vice President Harris as the "new face" of the party -- even though his policies were leading to a possible nuclear World War III.
There are still seven weeks to drive home this irony, to expose the elephant in the room, to shake Americans out of their sleepwalking into tragedy, by getting them to realize the election, and the U.S. government, are being controlled by a self-interested oligarchy of corporate swindlers. That is the task of the peace makers, whose voices must now ring out clearly.
One voice for peace spoke out after the debate ended. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who ended his campaign for president and endorsed Trump, said one of the prime reasons he endorsed Trump is that he understands what the danger is, that the Biden administration -- whoever is running the government -- they are taking us to nuclear war. He said he was disappointed that Trump missed some opportunities in the debate, but said that one comment he made was crucial.
In discussing the war in Ukraine, Trump remarked that Russia’s President Putin “has got a thing that other people do not have. He has got nuclear weapons. They do not ever talk about that. And eventually maybe he will use them. Maybe he has not been that threatening. But he does have that.” Kennedy posted about this on X: "Trump makes a point that I hope everyone hears: Russia has nuclear weapons.The Biden administration’s policy of maximum confrontation, seeking Russia’s humiliating defeat and regime change, is a recipe for nuclear immolation."
There is still time to reverse the dynamic toward war, but not much. If you want peace, speak up now.
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1.) See the report on the International Peace Coalition Zoom call of September 7, 2024, which included nuclear war expert Dr. Ted Postol, Col. (ret.) Lawrence Wilkerson, and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jack Matlock, International Peace Coalition: Cage the ‘Dogs of War’!